♪ >> a lot more power this year but i remember the next line to that song being a little bit louder around little bit worse. oh, yeah, that was the camp version of henry the viii. >> you remember? >> i do remember that part. start with our friend of the show, nbc news political analyst, ed rendell. so we have got -- governor, a new class, a lot on their plate, including the debt ceiling, immigration, guns, call me an optimist, this has to be better than 112, right? >> well, i think slightly better, but boy, it's disheartening to hear speaker boehner say he is not going to negotiate with the president because boy, as you guys know,

we didn't resolve anything with the deal that averted the fiscal cliff, temporarily avert ready the cliff. we didn't solve a bloody thing. the tough decisions lie ahead and not just on sequester around not just on continuing resolution, budget, the debt ceiling, but on guns, on energy, on infrastructure, on education, on immigration. and we are going to need a congress and a president that are going to roll up his sleeves and work together and act as adults, boy, that's no way to start off. that's really discouraging statement. just as an american, forget as a democrat. as an american, that is just is very sad. >> and let's dig in a little bit more to speaker boehner. former speak eer hastert, the mt pass with the majority of the majority role was talking about the fact they had to pass the fiscal cliff deem without a majority of the majority and he said, hastert said maybe you can do it once, maybe you can do it twice but when you start cutting deals where you have to get democrats to pass the

legislation, you're not in power anymore. so what are the ramifications for speaker boehner the way the fiscal cliff did pass? >> one of the responsibilities people aren't focusing on, he has to make sure, try to make sure that his party's brand is sufficient that they get re-elected as the majority party in 2014. and had they caused us to go over the fiscal cliff, let's assume they had rejected the senate deal, republicans as a bloc voted against it their brand would have been in serious trouble. let's assume we get reasonable gun control lemon slalgs on high-capacity magazines and on assault rifles, comes before the congress. and they reject it as a group. their brand is in serious trouble. so the speaker has to way

short-term ex-gin short-term with the long-term of the congress. if they torpedoed the cliff because of the hastert rule it would have seriously jeopardized their ability to stay in power. >> governor, go back to atmospherics for a remember, i remember the swearing in of the 111th congress in 2008 acres long with president obama, there was this palpable excitement. even for republicans who were not thrilled with obama, there was this excitement that the last eight years were over and that something new was beginning. then back to the 112th swearing in, certainly for republicans with that tea party insurgency, felt like the republican version of 2006. there was this excitement, something new was happening. this one feels decidedly meh. i can't describe it. we all know that the same folks are in x i think we all expect four more years of the same s

there any hope, any silver lining here we can look forward to with this swearing in? >> i'm not sure. the cast of characters, as you say basically the same. no question about it. there may be a feeling of dread because the challenges are so enormous and so important for the future of the country. and the ability to function in a rational way seems to have been totally lost by washington, yeah, i think there should absence of dread but i think the one person who could bring this back, who could really bring it all together, is the president of the united states. he has got to get out there and lead. that means he has to be open to working with republicans, understanding what the needs are and also deliver a message to chance we are going to have to compromise. give the president credit, he said woe kur chainhood cpi, said in 2011 he would raise the age of medicare with carveouts.

those are things these deliver if we are going to get republican goes along with more increased revenue and doing something finally about the debt. he has to deliver his side of the equation, too. but only one person can take this on his shoulders and carry it across the finish line and that's the president of the united states. he has to lead. no ifs, ands and buts about continue. he has to lead. i would love the whole congress this new congress and the president, they should all go see a screening of "lincoln" together because abraham lincoln led on the 13th amendment when everybody, both side, told him he was crazy. >> governor, if i just heard you right there, are you saying you would be okay with raising the medicare eligibility age? >> with proper carveouts for people who have health challenges, absolutely. >> i think that gets to, you mentioned this earlier, the entitlement fight was deferred in this fiscal cliff deal. >> totally deferred. >> something coming up against in a month or two all the deadlines that republicans in congress are now threatening to

use for leverage, debt ceiling, continuing resolution. >> sequester. >> right. i guess the idea you just put out there, carveouts, the basic idea of messing with an increasing the eligibility age for medicare, a huge no no to many people in your party. what are the other things, i'm curious, beside that that you would be comfortable? >> let's challenge that being a huge into no. when was medicare passed into law, guys? >> 1965. >> '65? what was the avalanche life expectancy? >> but governor -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> throw rationality out the window. >> the working poor -- [ overlapping speakers ] what is the life expectancy of the working poor versus what it was ten years ago, gone up, gone down is it the same? >> no, it's gone up. >> for the working poor. >> stayed the same. >> absolutely, it's gone up. it's gone up. >> isn't the goal of the progressive movement to be making medicare more available instead of less available?

>> well, sure, but its answer is -- we should have single payer around it should be medicare for all americans that would solve all of our problems, but that's not going to happen. but look, it is a rational response to a change in the testimodem demograph demographics. chained cpi, something we should consider. guys, we are not going to solve the problem. my reckoning is we need at least another 600 to $700 billion in revenue. we are not gonna get that. not got golden gate to get legitimate tax reform. not going to get cuts in defense budget. not going to get a lot of things on our agenda unless we give the other side something they are interested in as well. so that is bottom line. and somebody's got lead and when you're the governor, the mayor or the president, you're the one who leads, you're the one who shoulders a lot of the blame or the grief or aggravation but if you look like a leader, people will absolutely excuse you for that. >> governor, let's talk about a couple of the other massive

challenges that this congress is going to take up, immigration you gun control, climate change, violence against women, do you expect any possibility of meaningful reform, meaningful legislation on these major issues? >> i do if we can solve the debt problem. if the debt problem dissolves into poisoned pills and a horrible acerbics a not fear, every ebb is at each other's throats, the chances of having compromise on those issues, compromise that moves the ball ahead significantly, goes out the window. if the president can put together something that really works, that's reasonable compromise you that maybe not everybody votes for but enough people on both sides vote for, then i think you can go back to the drawing board and say, hey, guys, we solved the number one problem by working together, let's solve immigration. let's have an all-in energy policy that advances american energy independence. let's do something about our infrastructure. let's do something about education. i think so much rides on our ability to resolve the debt

problem in a way that doesn't tear us apart. >> hmm. >> quite an optimist. >> yeah, i really hope you're right. >> right. >> i'm saying, that is the only way we are going to get to those other challenges. >> governor, you are making a ton of sense to me today. i like it. >> don't you agree? if the debt problem dissolves into acrimony and bitterness and ideological rigidity, what chance do we have on any of the others? >> that is the question, i was get agent this yesterday, there are people within the democratic party, people worried about this what is the real price, in terms of the social safety net that president obama and democrats are going to end up paying nor, you know, for deficit reduction? what is the price, social safety net? again, governor, i find interesting, you mentioned it i certainly respect your view you that issue was out there raising the medicare eligibility able, that is going to be a you can who, huge source of contention want democratic party. >> it is really more of a symbolic issue nan a sprag

mattek issue, you have the right carveouts. more symbolism. what happened in washingtonself be gets their symbols, their symbols, we can't vote for revenue, no matter what we are not raising taxes that is a symbol, not substantive. we have our symbols on our side. look, i don't have to apologize to anyone for the safety net. i repaired the pennsylvania safety net in a way that hasn't been done in a long time and if the resources are there, we should do it again. but if the resources aren't there, we have got to make challenges, because if you leave -- if you leave medicare as it is, it's gone. it's not gonna be there. >> but medicare the program itself is not what's broken, health care costs exploding and medicare is a reflection of the health care costs. we start giving up on the program? i think that's where -- >> to bring this to the broader, i think what's interesting here is there is disagreement even within the democratic base on the way forward on entitlements and illustrate the tough josh that the president does have sort of convincing republicans that he is serious about not negotiating on those things when

he even has pressure from his own side to do so but former governor ed rendell, thank you so much. >> can i say one last thing? >> yes. sure. sure. >> if we don't do this, if we are rigid, the democrats say no change the line in the sand, how can we expect them to change? >> amen, governor. >> well, we will have to have this discussion another day. >> experience that though. >> the thing is that cutting benefit cis not the only option and as we saw with health care reform, which was an attempt to bring down health care costs overall, which is the bigger problem with medicare, but we will have to have you back on to have the bigger medicare debate. >> see you guys. all right, up next, worst job ever. and boehner just got elected to do it again. the man and the mission impossible, speaker as we roll on "the cycle." new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. now with a fancy coating

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is john boehner still feeling the love from fellow republicans? certainly trying to get back in their thank irgood grace acres kourding to a report the from the hill that boehner told his colleagues behind closed doors, he is through negotiating with the president one-on-one, seem likes a great start to the 113th. the tough guy message to his conference came just as he was up for re-election. is or reselection, if you will, for position of house speaker.

>> the big battle, the drama new year's day, question whether boehner would put the fiscal cliff deal that had passed the senate so overwhelmingly on the floor of the house, really only left a day for members, some of them left town, some of them stuck around, the whole sandy debacle that sort of gathered everybody's attention, but didn't leave a lot of time for any revolution to foment. so, if the house republican conference, if there were screamers, plotter, revolutionari revolutionaries, coup' d'etat protesters, smart enough not to launch a coup on national television.

he took the speakers a dais, gavel from nancy pelosi, another ritual on capitol hill. all kinds of families out there and he gave a very nice speech, almost a conciliatory speech but did bring up the debt again. the senate side, mitch mcconnell filed a couple of broadsides across the bow of the white house. the president may not want a fight on the debt ceiling coming up in two months but it is a fight he is going to have. acri. >> the most affections since newt gingrich in 1997. i have written this and people said that john boehner is a weak speaker in a lot of ways, absolutely true. i guess the distinction i would make, i don't think his

political skills are that bad at all. i think he is probably -- probably would be, under the right circumstances, a decent speaker, how he runs the house. the problem with the republicans right now is not poor leadership from john boehner. the problem is the republicans. this is a party that sees what used to be routine deadlines like the debt ceiling, see leverage there. this has never happened before. following go up to the brink of a debt default in the name of seeking huge, huge concessions on the social safety net, a party that until, you know, voting for the $450,000 thing refused to consider the idea of tax increases. in is a party that punishes republicans in primaries, guilty of thinking about working with democrats, guilty of thinking about compromise. i think you can't be the speaker of that party and be an effective speaker in the tradition of tom foley or like a tip o'neill or nancy pelosi. i don't blame boehner for it.

>> [ inaudible ]. >> mccormick. >> of course you know. >> i knew you would know. >> was it? >> yes to all of that including i'm assuming your answer was to the speaker in 1965. but two points i would say about boehner. i do think he is an impossible position, especially because he is basically a moderate and the tea party and the conservatives do not trust him answered has made mistakes. the plan b, the morning after bill, as we like to call it that was a debacle, something he caused and was unnecessary, created chaos and not helpful. mcconnell are had to step in the last minute and said let me handle this four, john boehner. he has sort of done the best with that circumstances. also made some missteps. i would say that there is some merit to the idea that someone who is actually from the right of the party or at least has trust from the right of the party could be in a better position to be more effective, just because they would have that base level of trust. right now the conservatives in the party are constantly looking

and assuming that john boehner is going to sell them out. and that is not helpful to doing a good job, as much as anyone could do a good job as speaker right now h >> boehner has done, as you said, the best he could do with the totally unruly and fractured caulk cause this is totally fractured into multiple pieces by the tea party, not one group but multiple groups, who want no compromise under any circumstance, so how do you ever work with that sort of a body? you know, i don't think anybody, if you went further right, would you go into groups who want to just burn government down, that wouldn't be able to work at all. it is sort of like the tea party, the kids who hate their parents and the establishment are the parents. how do the parents work with the anarchist's kids who hate them? i don't think anybody would better than boehner has done. you have a republican party, multiple republican parties plating under one umbrella. how do you move forward as a body like that? >> if the criteria which you

judge john boehner is comedy or sort of the har noni, able to create or not create within the caucus, fails this is based on a false assumption, the mod rats and the tea partiers, want to get along. the day party caucus, most of the members that i have talked to, are really happy to have the opportunity once in a while to go against the establishment. that works back at home. and then i think the moderates are really happy to look practicing maikt for many reasons, that works for them back home. until the landscape chances at home, they are happy living in the back of the house. >> i want to make sure i'm understanding this correct, you are agreeing toure? >> all of you a little bit. 2013 people. new year. >> i don't think we are

expressing opinions, just looking at the picture -- >> trying to be analytical here and i think john boehner, to that reality, has been an effective speaker in that he is not really trying to get these folks together, he is trying to hear both sides, speak for both sides, which is why you get this messy, garbled kind of ev ineffective message. he is representing two wings of the house. >> they disagree on what kind of a speaker john mccormick was. john boehner wrangling with his own party, michael crowley explains why we are poised to become a nation of cliff we w l dwellers, like the hobbit or something.

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so after the fiscal cliff roller coaster, we have some positive economic news. >> what? >> the new adp jobs report shows more than 200,000 private sector jobs added between november and december, leading to some cautious optimism for tomorrow's big jobs report and we will have our dynamic jobs duo of mauricecy and bernstein, get excited for that. >> i already am. >> before we get too thrilled, we know there are more cliffs on the horizon. we have got a huge debt ceiling fight looming next month and after that there are cliffs that aren't even financial. we have got immigration, education, guns, environment, the list goes on and on. >> huxtable. >> what? >> huxtable. >> huxtable? >> cliff huxtable. "cosby show." steve got it. >> i have heard of "the cosby show." >> wow. >> moving on is our government in its current state really in a position to handle any of this? am i in a position to handle toure today? >> nobody is. >> just like every scandal has

become a gate, every deadline a cliff in the latest issue out today, time mag zine takes a look at the partisan warfare you the power play between the white house and congress and what comes next. and in the guest spot today, we just happen to have the deputy washington bureau chief of "time" magazine, michael crowley. thank you for being with us. >> i think that's really an interesting point and points out the short-term nature of what they have done. and for example, if they had actually worked with the president on the brand bargain in the summer of 2011 rather than opposing him at every turn, who do have gotten a loft things they wanted back then. so, i'm wondering if there's any hope that maybe the republicans will realize that they could actually accomplish more of their floor outs if they did try to work with this president. >> i don't think there is a lot

of hope. the republicans have been an adreamily aggressive minority in obama presidency and a lot of situations they have taken an all or none position and rather than try to buy in and put their fingerprints on things obama's doing, they basically try to stop it in its tracks then they are left with less than what they could have had. mike has a great line, he reminds us that mitch mcconnell said his priority was denying obama a second term. now he needs a new top priority, because that didn't work out for him. congress and particularly republicans in congress are being more aggressive about their power to fight the president really than we have ever seen, particularly, for instance, in the area of confirmations and filibusters. the same time, we have to recognize that the power of the presidency has been growing, george bush started it, bill

clinton before him, steady blow grerks obama a lot of things through executive power. not getting any closer. >> mr. crowley, i do not want to put you in the sticky situation -- >> who? >> what? >> who? that surprises me as patently absurd and a back doorway of defending a deal that the president didn't effectively really like. we heard for years that the president was the one to cut the deficit in half and that's why we needed him. he also campaigned for a year on soaking the rich. in fact, after winning election, told us he had a mandate to raise taxes on the rich because most voters agreed with that

plan. but now i'm to believe that this package, which does nothing to lower unemployment, in fact, raises taxes on 70% of americans, is about protecting the recovery and the vulnerable? >> i guess mike's position would be that the president just wasn't willing to swallow significant cuts, particularly to entitle itment programs that were under discussion, like medicare and social security. he might have been able to do a deal with republicans if he was following cut those programs and given how deeply they were dug in on taxes and given his apparent unwillingness to take us over the cliff on in a substantial way, he chose not to do that the proof is in the pudding, you are forced to choose, your back is up against the wall, you show your priorities, what are you willing to throw overboard? what are you following sacrifice. mike's statement is borne out by the deal that the president accepted. and it's one in which he chose not to play games with the cliff you not to play games with the economy. and to try to keep the economy

recovering. remember that the easiest way out would be if the economy came back and we grew at a faster pace. i think a good chance the president's thinking was hopefully, you know, buy a little more time, economic growth might make this easier, he just wasn't going to do it on medicare and social security, i think what mike was getting at. >> michael, the trepidation among some on the left at least right now, maybe they don't yet next actually what president obama's priorities are on entitlements, social security, medicare and we are going to find out in the next few months because republicans are going use the debt ceiling, continuing resolution and all these other deadlines to try to force real serious concessions on social safety net spending and they look back, people on the left look back and say look what obama put on the table the summer of wealth 2011, talking about chained cpis a week ago, floated raising the medicare eligibility age and governor ed rendell on the show earlier explicitly making that case for that. how worried should sort of the staunch believers and the social

safety net, how worried should they be about where president obama's priority russ with regards to that? >> steve, i think they should be worried. i don't know how it is going to play out that doesn't mean the program that obama is going to allow these programs to be slashed. i do think that republicans have a lot more leverage going into the debt ceiling fight. i'm sort of channeling mike here, who is out of the country now. mike's position in that article, which i think is a reasonable one, went president was forced to choose, he didn't want to see the economy take a severe hit, among other things. well, if we default on the debt next month, the economy going to take a severe hit you it is a more threatening scenario a few weeks from now than it was just a couple of days ago. and so i think we are in a more intense game of chicken and one in which i think republicans have more leverage. the damage to the economy

becomes more dangerous to and mo -- dangerous and more threatening. it is just too hard to predict now. i was convinced we were going to be over the cliff without a resolution at this point if you had asked me a month ago so i'm not going to pretend to have a crystal ball. >> we have one. >> freudian slip. >> deputy bureau chief crowley -- >> very official. >> happened with this fiscal cliff debate happened all the media auction, all the political auction away from the gun control discussions away from newtown and david gregory, a friend of the show, asked the president what are your four biggest things that you want to achieve, the president ticked off four things, immigration, climate control, steve knows the other two off the top of his head answered did not say gun control. david gregory said what about gun control? he said, yes, that, too. can we taking any from that? 20 children murdered in newtown and even that can't get us off

the ball, so nothing will? >> i thought that was a mixed message there on the one hand, if you're really going to prioritize something as president, you have limited bandwidth, limited opportunities to say this is what i'm focused on. really going to prioritize something, you have to volunteer it put it food, the top of your lists, burn time you could be spending on other things, holding convenients to focus on that issue. an example he had to be prompted, didn't bring it up. the other hand, he really seemed to have been genuinely shattered by this event. >> yeah. >> he has referred to it as the worst day of his presidency. i don't think that's something you say lightly. i don't think it's just a soundbite for him. i don't think he is being glib. i think it really -- i think it really hit him in the gut. i think he's a sincere determination to do something about this.

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there's a lot of record breaking and history making on capitol hill today. the 113th congress features 94 rookies in both the house and the senate out of the total 535 members. all together it is a diverse group. 101 women, 16 iraq and afghan veteran, 43 of a rams, 31 latinos, 12 asian-americans, seven openly gay and bisexual members and one hindu member noifrmt mile stoerng the first time, white men will not make up the majority of the house democrat caucus. lots of fresh new faces, we here

at "the cycle" began to ponder who would be most likely to say vote with the other party. or run 2016 for president. high school yearbook style. let's bring in high school yearbook editor, i mean politico's senior washington correspondent jonathan allen to break down our superlative picks. you are a doctor, a yearbook editor, you do it all. >> best eyes, best smile you best all kinds of things. i know you guys have all those. >> all right, sir. all right, sir. >> off to a good start. >> mr. al learning i got to confess and i will not make many friends by saying this, but the sort of --len, i got to confess and i will not make many friends by saying this, but the sort of -- i don't say the 112th congress couldn't be less productive because we didn't have a hindu in office. what do you make of all of the diverts coming into 1913th and what kind of landscape is that gonna set up in terms of

productivity and stuff we can get done? >> a couple of things i would say that some of those groups overlap. you mentioned women and african-americans and iraq and afghanistan veterans and hindu member of congress. again, some of those overlap a little bit. people with different experience he is and backgrounds. i think it would be nice to have a day some time when we don't have to take account of all of the firsts, for the time being it is nice to take a count of all the firsts. whether that makes a big difference in terms of policy making remains to be seen. i think the biggest factor remains on capitol hill whether be super bowl is somebody is a democrat or a republican rather than what their skin color is or what their religious beliefs are whether they served in the military or not. >> of course, we are not there, diversity is not sillily, i don't think anyone in the world saying the 112th is unproductive because it lacked diversity. very obvious that congress should look like america that allows to to better serve america deal with all of its problems.

prime minister allen, the person likely to be inspiring, tammy duckworth, iraq war here row, purple heart, a woman uniquely poised to challenge military spending, to challenge military policy forward in terms of iraq and syria, to be part of the gun control debate in an interesting way that liberals have traditionally not been able to be. and interestingly, in terms of history, part of a wave that i think we are going to see of iraq veterans, afghanistan veteran, veterans coming into congress and changing the conversation of congress. do you think that's the -- what we are going to see forward? absolutely, new crop of military veterans acre long the lines of the post vietnam era, see folks over there come into the congress. tammy duckworth prominent today in the house of representatives. sitting in the front row during

the speaker vote, you could see her prosthetic limbs a constant reminder of her service. i think she will be prominent on a lot of issues. >> coming up with the soup per late tivgs the senate side, most likely toubt 1 in a 98-1 vote are i nominate elizabeth warren. i say this because i think there is a role to be play there had for a conscience of the democratic party. you think of the role of paul wellstone used to play she is coming in a time, we have talked about on the show today, the first major battle, first few months of this year is going over the social safety net, over social security, medicare, middle class, working poor programs, programs that she talked about so much during her campaign. seems like an ideal role for her to be playing right now >> you are going to search hard for the veet she is to the left of bernie sanders on some of those issues, i agree with you,

times when i think elizabeth warren is going to be one of a few voices, if not the lone voice, particularly on sort of populist issues, on trying to hold corporations accountable. we obviously saw that with her work after the financial crisis in 2008 and helping craft that consumer protection bureau. so i think elizabeth warren is not only going to be a strong and loud voice but perhaps one because she has dealt in washington before that has a sense of pragmatism and how to get things done while articulating her principles. >> sir jonathan allen, duke of politico. >> nice. >> happy new year. see you soon. >> happy new year. up next, we have talked a lot about the house disfunction but can the senate be fixed too? our inside man, jimmy williams, joins us with hope for a big change. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then.

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we have done mosts of the show on the problems facing the republican-controlled house of congress. but the democratic-controlled senate is messed up too. the fill muster takes 60 not 50 members to approve anything, requiring a supermajority to get anything done and outside power to the minority through this care the republicans. majority leader harry reid vowed to fix this today but now decided to push it until late terror month so he can "negotiate" with the

republicans. do republican does that with democrat sfls we will give you a bulletin when that is over. don't worry "cycle" fans, our man inside the senate, king jimmy williams, is here to tell us how we can get back to majority rule. king jimmy, why must there be majority filibuster reform and will there actually be filibuster reform? >> there will be at some point, the problem is you have a senate leader, harry reid, who wants filibuster reform. he has a bunch of freshman members of his caucus that want it as well, but he has a lot of rank and file democrats who don't want it, because they have been in the minority many times. so you have a group of eight senators, led by carl levin from michigan and john mccain from arizona, remember that guy, trying to come up with a compromise deal and they are working behind the scenes furiouslism reid knows about this, so does the republican leader, mitch mcconnell. they are both looking at each other going we are the leaders of the senate and we are not leading on this. so they are in the year,

probably around inaugural and at that point i suspect they will get consensus on what to do about filibuster reform. >> supreme being, jimmy williams -- >> i'm a red neck from south carolina. what is this stuff? come on, guys. >> as you know, i am a huge advocate for filibuster reform. i think we should get rid of the filibuster. a couple other ideas for reform of both the house and senate, one is nonpartisan redistricting reform nationwide, get rid of gerrymandering like what they have done in california. and the other is to make it easier to vote. i mean, right now we have partisans are the only ones willing to go to the polls and in florida you have people standing in line seven hours. we really need nationwide election reform to make it simpler and easier for people to vote. >> mandatory like australia. >> our elections are basically a race to the bottom. if you don't believe me look at two months ago. to your point, if you could have more people involved going to the polls who aren't necessarily democrats or republicans or

rabid on each side doing that, you'd have more people involved in the process and more proud of their government. i completely agree with you. i think that would be a great idea. >> jimmy, i know you also think that these folks should spend some more time together? unpack that a little bit. >> look, 20, 30, 40 years ago, you had senators that lived in washington, d.c., and they went back to their home states probably once every two or three months or so. today they go back every single weekend and they don't know each other. senators don't know each other. it is far harder to demonize someone on the senate floor in front of the senate cameras if you have no relationship with them. so what i would suggest is that the united states senate start having some frickin dinner parties, maybe cocktail parties. get to know each other, their wives, spouses, their children, birthdays, anniversaries. that to me -- it's just like a neighborhood. you know, like a subdivision. you know your neighbors. it's far easier to like your neighbors than it is to hate your neighbors because you have to live with them. all 100 of these men and women live together every day.

they ought to at least know something about each other and try to get along and be invested in each other's personal and professional lives. >> jimmy, at "the cycle" we don't appreciate language like that. i'm kidding. >> i have been in your offices. >> i actually think just really quickly, i actually think some of those guys, if not all of them need to get second jobs. i think these were not meant to be full-time positions. they weren't meant to be for life and they also weren't meant to make celebrities of these people. they need to go home for half the year. you can spread it out over the year if you want, go home, be accountable, work at home depot or walmart for half a year and have a boss and remember what it's like to live like we do having to punch in every day and be accountable to someone. >> very interesting. jooch like that's going to happen. upstairs on the eighth floor there's a room named the jimmy williams room. there's no greater honorific.

>> thanks, guys. >> the cycle's facebook friend zachary offered this nugget, avoid the media unless it's "the cycle." >> i like that. smart guy. >> make him our producer. don't forget to post your advice for the 113th congress on our facebook page. facebook.com/thecycle. up next, krystal, the reason why having more women represent us is so important. , the reason why having more women represent us is so important. c, the reaso why having more women represent us is so important. le, the reasn why having more women represent us is so important. a, the reason why having more women represent us is so important. r, reason why having more women represent us is so important.

you are looking at republican senator mark kirk of illinois climbing the steps of the capitol after a year-long recovery from a debilitating

stroke. in an interview yesterday, kirk talked about how his stroke had changed him and how it had challenged some of his core beliefs. in particular he noted that medicaid recipients in his situation would have been limited to only 11 rehab visits. he said had i been limited to that, i would have had no chance to recover like i did. so unlike before suffering the stroke, i'm much more focused on medicaid and what my fellow citizens face. in fact, personal experience seems to be one of the only things today that can move people and change minds. new jersey governor chris christie and new york congressman peter king went to bat yesterday against their own party to secure relief for sandy victims, victims whose plight they had seen and heard firsthand. i'm going through all of this because i've been trying to wrap my head around how the republican house could possibly have failed to extend the violence against women act, an act that just as it sounds helps protect women who are victims of sexual and domestic abuse and

the only reason i can come up with is that the male-dominated house republican caucus, which didn't bother to appoint a single woman as committee chair until pressured, which didn't allow a single woman on a panel about birth control, cannot relate to the personal experience of a woman who has been stalked, raped, or beaten by her spouse. the senate renewed the legislation back in april with bipartisan support, sponsorship support -- bipartisan support that came primarily from women. the house utterly failed. here are the three new provisions republicans object to. one, protections for undocumented immigrants who are being beaten by their spouse but can't report it for fear of deportation. two, protections for all women regardless of their sexual orientation. and, three, e panded protections